Karzai Arrives in Pakistan to Discuss Afghan Peace Talks

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan arrived in Pakistan on Thursday, after saying he wanted to explore how Pakistan could help foster peace negotiations with the Afghan Taliban.

Mr. Karzai said Wednesday in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that his representatives had begun talks with the Taliban and the United States government, a potentially significant development suggesting that the Taliban were dropping longstanding objections to face-to-face discussions with his government.

A member of the Afghan High Peace Council also described the recent Afghan government contacts to The New York Times this week and said that there had been an agreement with Taliban representatives to go ahead with initial peace talks in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar, but there was no date yet for the meetings.

Mr. Karzai said that “there have been contacts between the U.S. government and the Taliban, there have been contacts between the Afghan government and the Taliban, and there have been some contacts that we have made, all of us together, including the Taliban.”

The High Peace Council member, Haji Musa Hotak, said that “some talks have been started with the Taliban.”

“There is willingness among the Taliban,” Mr. Hotak said. “They spoke with their leadership and got them to agree to talks in Qatar with the Afghan government.” He added that it was “too early to say what the Taliban want.”

Taliban spokesmen could not be immediately reached to confirm whether any three-way meetings had already been held or more were planned.

Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the United States National Security Council, declined to comment on Mr. Karzai’s statement but has made clear in the past that there are many steps that would have to be taken before substantive peace negotiations could begin.

Nonetheless, the mere possibility that the Taliban would even entertain talks with the Afghan government is significant. In the past, the Taliban have described Mr. Karzai as a “puppet leader” and the Afghan government as a “puppet government.” Since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, they have declared that they are the rightful Afghan government. In the last year, they have insisted on face-to-face talks with the Americans rather than with the Afghan government.

Continued direct talks with the Afghan government would suggest an admission that it is legitimate. The talks would also be important because they would begin to get important players needed to start substantive discussions in the same room, but the obstacles to real progress remain formidable.

Pakistan is also needed for talks, since the country hosts the Taliban and has allowed their fighters to live there, raise money and train. Mr. Karzai told The Wall Street Journal that he would be asking for Pakistan’s help during the talks, which the Afghan Foreign Ministry said are scheduled for Friday.

Any substantive discussions would require concessions by both sides in the war, and for those Mr. Karzai would need support from the Americans; they have control over crucial bargaining chips that Mr. Karzai would need to offer to the Taliban as measures to create trust and later to persuade them to stop fighting.

Among the confidence-building measures that the Americans have discussed with the Taliban is the transfer of Taliban detainees from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Another request from the Taliban, according to former Taliban officials, is a halt to the American special operations against senior Taliban field commanders in Afghanistan. While such concessions might be possible, they are politically delicate for the Obama administration in an election year.